It is often convenient to motorcycle riders to have some means for stowing articles on the cycle, particularly in a position allowing ready access thereto without dismounting. With the motorcycle gasoline tank extending intermediate the seat and the steering head, the top surface presents a generally planar support surface.
Accordingly, it has heretofore been known to provide a stowage bag secured to the gasoline tank for this purpose.
Desirably, such installations of motorcycle tank bags should take into account several considerations. The bag should be able to be quickly and easily installed. After installation, the bag should be positioned relatively securely such as to not have any tendency to shift during maneuvers even when heavily loaded.
Also, the bag should be readily removable in order to provide access to the gas cap and also to enable the bag to be conveniently taken with the operator after dismounting.
The tank upper surface, while generally planar, usually includes a filler neck and cap for filling the tank with gasoline, which cap will have a tendency to damage fragile articles disposed in the bottom of the bag.
Similarly, the articles within the bag need to be protected from the projecting gas cap, and the surface finish of the tank may be damaged by relatively hard, sharp articles disposed within the bag scraping the surface of the gas tank. Likewise, the strap and bag fastener hardware is often located to mar the tank surface.
Accordingly, the simple encircling strap mounting arrangements and top mounted frames which have heretofore been utilized are not entirely satisfactory in dealing with all of these respects.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,207 of the present inventors, there is disclosed a motorcycle tank bag and installation thereof including a harness mounting arrangement and tank pad which are mounted to the motorcycle gas tank, with a quick disconnect feature enabling ready removal of the tank bag from the harness arrangement. The tank pad protects the surface finish of the bag tank and also recesses the gas cap in an opening formed in the pad. This approach requires a relatively thick support pad in order to accommodate the depth of the filler neck and cap.
In addition, while quick disconnect fasteners are used, i.e., Velcro strips, there is a four-point connection between the harness and bag and it would of course be advantageous to further improve the speed with which the bag may be released from the supporting harness.
Also, typical methods for securing the bag to the tank have utilized a pair of encircling harness straps which pass around the gas tank. While relatively secure, it would be advantageous to provide a fore and aft and lateral tensioning of the bag in order to minimize any tendency for shifting of the bag position due to starting and stopping, acceleration and deceleration of the motorcycle.
The encircling arrangements heretofore employed have relied on the ability of these straps gripping the tank body to resist shifting on the tank surface, a not-always attainable result.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively simple mounting arrangement for a motorcycle tank bag in which the bag may be speedily and readily detached and removed from the motorcycle.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such mounting arrangement in which a tank pad is incorporated configured to protect the tank surface and also to provide an anti-friction surface increasing the stability of the mounting of the tank bag, which pad is relatively thin in construction but which is arranged so as to enable ready access to the gas filler cap.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such mounting arrangement in which extremely secure positioning of the tank bag both in fore and aft and lateral directions is afforded.